Jordan Boone did everything right. She studied hard in high
school, earning the attention of her teachers and guidance
counselors. She enrolled at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, Kiplinger's long-standing
best-value school
. And in May, she graduated with a degree in environmental studies
-- plus $28,000 in debt and a very critical take on the economics
of education.
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"No piece of paper is worth your quality of life and peace of
mind," she tweeted after getting her diploma in the mail. "College
was fine, but it wasn't worth the price. How much do you lose to
debt? How much of yourself do you lose to stress?"
Boone is hardly alone in her doubts. Although conventional
wisdom has long dictated that young people need a four-year degree
to succeed, college students and their parents have never had
better reason to seek alternative paths. Today, the average college
student who takes out loans graduates with more than $25,000 in
debt. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for college grads sticks at
nearly 9%, about the same as for the general population. In July
2012, a Country Financial poll found that only 57% of Americans
consider college a good investment, down from 81% in 2008.
Sure, this lack of confidence reflects the economic
uncertainties of our time -- a sudden, society-wide agnosticism
toward the financial institutions and rules we played by before the
recession. But it also illustrates an important reality for young
people: Smart, secure alternatives to college do exist. And whether
students can't afford a four-year degree or simply think it's not
for them, forgoing college doesn't necessarily doom their future
careers.
Making It Without a Degree
Before he went on to co-found Apple, Steve Jobs was a
first-semester college drop-out. He audited calligraphy classes. He
dropped in on a rag-tag hobbyist group called the Homebrew Computer
Club. One thing he didn't do? Seek out any kind of formal,
post-secondary degree.
Precious few of us can hope to follow Jobs's meteoric rise. But
even closer to earth, plenty of high-school grads parlay their
diplomas into successful careers. In fact, a full 14% of high
school graduates make as much as or more than $2.9 million, the
median lifetime earnings for someone with a bachelor's degree.
Jumping into the workforce without a degree is no sure thing,
but picking the right field helps. According to the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics, three professions that don't require college
degrees -- commercial pilot, telecommunications installer and
wholesale sales rep -- promise median salaries similar or greater
to college grads. Other no-degree fields have big salary potential,
if not at the median level: Top-tier electricians and construction
inspectors both make more than $80,000 a year.
Most of these jobs require only experiential or on-the-job
training -- a practice that's also in vogue in several fields
outside of construction and sales. Peter Thiel, the co-founder of
Paypal, launched a fellowship program in 2010 to encourage college
students to drop out of school and start their own tech projects.
(Michael Dell, Bill Gates and Tumblr founder David Karp all went
that route.)
Diving right into the workforce can also make sense for
musicians and artists, especially considering that the typical
art-school grad makes only $44,000. Dennis Kane, a Washington,
D.C.-based sound engineer, knew he wanted to go into music when he
dropped out of art school 22 years ago. His parents weren't
pleased, but Kane worked his way through recording studios and
clubs around D.C. before eventually becoming the head audio
engineer at one of the city's foremost indie venues. He now mixes
sound for National Geographic and, yes, makes more than the average
four-year college grad.
"I will say that I worked my butt off for many, many years and
didn't earn a whole lot of money for a long time," Kane says. "But
I've met loads of amazingly creative people who have taught me so
many interesting things, and I don't have any student loans. I
wouldn't change a thing."
Getting Technical
Technical school isn't what it used to be. For one thing, it's
no longer called technical school. The much-maligned alternative to
a four-year degree now goes by "career and technical education," or
CTE, and it's gaining ground among the educational experts and
guidance counselors who once clucked their tongues at it. In fact,
a September 2012 report from Georgetown's Center on Education and
the Workforce found that there are 29 million middle-class jobs for
people with only CTE training. Do the math -- that's 21% of all
jobs in the U.S.
CTE encompasses pretty much everything that a traditional
four-year degree doesn't: automotive and aviation schools;
certificate programs in vocations such as cosmetology and computer
services; industry-sponsored apprenticeship and training programs;
and certain two-year, non-humanities degrees. While technical
programs are often housed in community colleges, they can also grow
out of high schools, technical schools and corporations. And they
are indeed growing. In the U.S., the number of less-than-four-year
institutions offering CTE programs increased every year between
2001 and 2006, the latest data available. (You might have heard
some buzz about that a few years ago, after New York City mayor
Michael Bloomberg announced massive expansions to the city's CTE
offerings.)
What explains CTE's newfound popularity? Personal economics are
at least partially responsible. One or two years of school are
cheaper than four and still boost annual earnings by an average of
$5,000. But changes in the wider job market have also created
thousands of jobs for CTE-educated workers to fill. As baby-boomers
age, for instance, hospitals, doctors' offices and nursing homes
need more medical assistants. And as the population grows and
begins to demand things such as environmentally friendly office
buildings, plumbers, electricians and other skilled construction
workers will find plenty of work.
In fact, some CTE grads know they'll have jobs as soon as they
leave school. Douglas Rodriguez, 17, just wrapped up his first year
at a machinist program in Charlotte, N.C. He'll leave the program
with a community-college degree, years of work experience and a
guaranteed job at the Siemens Energy plant in Charlotte.
"I don't know what I'd be doing if I wasn't here, but I know I'd
be in debt," he says. In fact, before he heard about the Siemens
program, he thought about going to MIT. The current price tag on a
four-year degree there is nearly $230,000.
College Can Be Worth It
At the end of the day, of course, the safest path to a career
still leads through the Ivory Tower. The median pay for a
high-school grad is $638 a week, while the median pay for a
four-year-college grad is $1,053. Over a lifetime, that gap adds up
to between one-half million and one million dollars, depending on
whom you ask. College grads also say they're happier with their
jobs and finances, and that they feel more mature because of their
experiences at school. But these, of course, are the medians, and
there are wide ranges around them.
Boone, the UNC grad, took some flack from her friends for her
anti-college Twitter rant. In hindsight, she says, she wouldn't
forgo her degree, which helped her land a job with AmeriCorps. What
she does wish, though, is that she'd been more economical, maybe
starting out in community college or attending school in-state.
Still, she warns, college doesn't deserve the unquestioning
reverence it's given. It's a lesson for everyone, regardless of
whether and where they go to school. "I definitely think that in
today's world, some sort of degree helps people take you
seriously," she says. "But a four-year liberal arts education isn't
the only one."